We began with some questions that were posted online for Nicole and Jen:
Did either of them feel any worry about posting their work on the internet, where future employers could find it?
Nicole didn't feel much concern but wondered if she should, mentioning her middle-school Myspace that's still online; Jen plans to work in the digital humanities, and so feels it's great for her to have an online presence. Nicole adds that most people's names are all over the Internet in places they didn't put it on purpose (Bi-Co articles, etc.).

This is not just about Star Wars, Dune, or exploding spaceships. This is not just about scantily-clad princesses in high-tech towers, Captain Kirk, or the robot apocalypse. Science-fiction is a genre that encompasses almost every other genre there is. It crosses mediums: television, radio, video games, books, graphic novels, comics, movies... It can be about the future or the past, our humanity or lack-there-of, or the comedy or drama or dramatic comedy of our lives. 

Right now I'm leaning toward studying graphic novels. Webcomics are a logical progression from blogs, and we could discuss comics vs. graphic novels (I don't actually know anything about this).  We could study graphic novels like Persepolis, young adult graphic novels, and maybe manga.  I don't actually know too much about western graphic novels (beyond Johnny the Homicidal Maniac...), so this would be a learning experience for me to an extent.  Also, if we did superhero comics (I don't know much about these either), we could discuss how the concept of the hero is perceived over the years (and maybe across mediums).

SUGGESTED READING:
M.A. Papalaskari et. al, "PIVOTS: Service Learning at the Science, Theatre & Magic Boundary." 
IEEE October 28 – 31, 2006, San Diego, CA

A couple of ideas for our curriculum after spring break:

1)  Graphic Novels: Much of what we've studied with blogging involves visual components (i.e. pictures like in the travel blogs we read).  Graphic novels such as Persepolis, Mouse and Watchmen would allow us to explore more of this visual side of learning and discussion.  Pieces like Persepolis would also allow us to study visual learning as an international phenomenon, considering that we did not really delve into any international blogs but mainly concentrated on those based in the US.